Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) has termed non-adoption of Standard Conditions of Contract (SCC) by various government agencies as one of the reasons for poor quality of infrastructure projects' work in Pakistan.
The council said this in response to a news item appeared in Business Recorder relating to weak regulatory system for infrastructure development in Pakistan, wherein Punjab government sources had held PEC poor regulatory framework responsible for existing lacunas in regulatory system.
Eng. Akber Sheikh, chairman of the Construction Industry Regulation Committee of the Council, said that the Standard Conditions of Contract, prepared by the PEC, were in line with international practices. According to him, the Sindh government has adopted recently the rules prepared by Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) of the federal government.
PPRA rules require adoption of PEC bidding documents thus making adoption of standard conditions of contract mandatory by Sindh provincial departments. Punjab government, so far, has not adopted the PPRA rules, he said, adding,"this step is considered necessary for institutional strengthening of project execution agencies in the province."
Another reason for poor quality of works, especially in private sector, is execution of works by contractors, who are not registered with the Pakistan Engineering Council, he stressed. Sheikh said this is in spite of the fact that building rules in Punjab make it mandatory for the developers and sponsors of the projects to engage PEC registered contractors. Unfortunately, he said, this condition is not being implemented by the relevant agencies.
Eng. Akber Sheikh clarified that the PEC bylaws are friendly toward participation of foreign contractors in Pakistan. In fact PEC bylaws have provided WTO plus access to foreign contractors and there are a number of foreign contractors working in Pakistan including Chinese, Malaysian, American and Turkish both in private as well as government projects, he added.
According to him, the PEC is gearing up to play an enhanced role in facilitation and regulation of the construction industry in Pakistan. The recently appointed chairperson of the council, Senator Engineer Rukhsana Zuberi, has completed the task of the formation of the various committees and is now holding strategy sessions with the committee heads to transform the premier professional council of the country into a truly dynamic organisation, he added.